Exercise 2-4D: Business Research

With your group, imagine that you are writing a business plan for a new company. 

Step 1: As a group, choose a company that would be among your competitors and identify the business sector that it belongs to. (For instance, if you are imagining an online real estate business you might choose Zillow and identify your sector as the real estate sector). 

Your company:
Business sector:
Competitor:

Example:
Your company: Purple Bowl [already exists, just using for the sake of an example–but insert your invented new company here]
Business sector: restaurant industry, healthy fast food; health and wellness industry
Competitor: Frutta Bowls 

Potential research topics: health food trends in dining; health benefits of Acai bowls and avocado toasts; build-your-own dish restaurant models

Step 2: Then, use at least two of the databases listed in the table on p. 46 to find out more about your company and business sector.

Step 3: Design a short Google Slides presentation that showcases the essential information for your business plan based on your preliminary research. Share what you learned about that company and sector and how it could be useful for your business plan by posting your short slideshow to Forums on Sakai.
Tip: Keep in mind as you design your slides that the information included should be clear, concise, correct, courteous, consistent, and complete. Visual rhetoric is absolutely essential in business communication. Your slides should be informative, clear, well-formatted, and aesthetically pleasing.

For an editable Google doc of this exercise that you can download, click here.